Wire furring hangers

ABSTRACT

A wire furring hanger attaching means adapted to save time, material and labor in the hanging of furring strips to support plaster or false ceilings, made of acoustical or other material, from the supporting members of the roof of a building.

United States Patent 1 Sheppard, deceased et a1.

[ July 31, 1973 WIRE FURRING HANGERS [76] Inventors: Gordon M. Sheppard, deceased, late $1, 16.55 .washingwfiaflsql x q Fla. 33020; Dame Lillian Brodeur; Jack Sheppard; Philip Brodeur, all of 448 5 I ndustri5l Eli/(1., Hollywood, Fla. Executors and Trustees 221 Filed: June 25,1970

21 App1.No.:'49,755

[52] US. Cl 52/665, 52/484, 52/714,

287/189.36 A [51] Int. Cl. E04c 2/42, E04c 5/04 [58] Field of Search 52/484, 683, 686,

52/714, 719,357-360, 665; 287/189.35, 189.36 A, 50; 24/261 WL [56] References Cited 1 UNITED STATES PATENTS 883,434 3/1908 Waite 52/358 1,057,431 4/1913 Jackson 287/l89.35 1,263,887 4/1918 Hamilton 52/719 1,929,302 10/1931 Boyle 52/719 1,999,508 4/1935 Mathews 52/719 2,945,329 7/1960 Schneller..... 24/261 3,356,399 12/1967 Young 287/50 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,232,421 1960 France 52/484 Primary Examiner-Henry C. Sutherland Attorney-M. A. Baskin [5 7 1 ABSTRACT A wire furring hanger attaching means adapted to save time, material and labor in the hanging of furring strips to support plaster or false ceilings, made of acoustical or other material, from the supporting members of the roof of a building.

3 Claims, 7 Draw 'ing Figures wnu: FURRING HANGERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention,

Supporting hanger attaching means for furring strips, false ceilings and the like.

2. Description of the Prior Art The current standard procedure in hanging furring strips, for acoustical or false ceilings of materials, from the supporting beams of the roof of a building at present consists of manualy bending and forming strips of wire to loop over the beams and support the furring strips. In performing this procedure the mechanic or installer must measure the proper length of each wire, twist it, and cut it, on the job, from a straight piece of long wire. Generaly this elongated wire is carried on a large spool or reel.

In the invention, disclosed herein, the furring hangers are each pre-cut and shaped in a factory, away from the job, so that the mechanic or installer merely has to locate and install each furring hanger in its proper predetermined place, preferably with the aid of a simple tool. In this manner each furring strip is precisely installed and held in predetermined position and distance below the beam which supports it by the use of the preformed furring hanger which was manufactured off the job.

This invention is particularly adapted for hanging furring strips to support false ceilings, whether they be made of acoustical or other materials, which are to be placed in snug contact with the lowest portion of the beams of the building.

The result of this invention is a great saving .in time and money and improvement in the quality of the instailation.

In the prior art, such as U. S. Pat. No. 499549 to Hunter et al, a pipe hanger is shown made of bent wire which will fit over the lower flange of an I beam to hold a pipe. Another type of attachment for holding metal bars and beams together is shown in U. S. Pat. No. 749222 to Purdy et al, in which a complex wire arrangement is used to hold bars below I beams. U. S. Pat. No. 3276800 to Loudon et al, showsa beam clip for stringing telephone wires from the bottom flange of an I beam. U. S. Pat. No. 796468 to Streeter discloses a sheet metal clip.

.None of this prior art anticipates this invention. No special assembly tool is shown in any of said prior art. No problem of lowering or creating a false ceiling is present. No spring steel wire furring hanger is disclosed. Most of the prior art relies, at least in part, on sliding" fit arrangements, some are designed for stringing telephone wires, and some stress great strength and security obtained by bulk and rigidity, as in Loudon et a], and Streeter, neither of which disclose applicant's strong spring steel clip clamping action.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is shown in two forms.

In one form a hanger is composed of two pieces of spring steel wire, a larger and smaller piece. The larger piece consists of a U-shaped hanger having one end in the form of a hook which is disposed at right angles to the plane of the U, and the other end in the form of a hook which extends in a plane parallel to the U. The smaller portion of this two piece hanger consists of a piece of wire having a small dip or notch in the middle adapted to fit under the hook-end which is parallel to the U.

The other form of the invention consists of a one piece U-shape, spring steel wire hanger in which both ends are formed in a hook shape, both of said ends being arranged in planes at right angles to the plane of the U, except that the hook on one end faces in the opposite direction from the hook on the other end of the hanger.

By use of a simple special tool both forms of the wire furring hangers attaching means of the present invention can be readily placed intoposition without cutting or forming by the installer or mechanic on the job, all of the cutting and forming of the wire hanger attaching means having been pre-formed in a factory away from the job site.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1, shows a perspective view of the first form of this invention in place holding a furring strip under a bar joist.

FIG. 2, shows an enlarged perspective view of the larger portion of the first form of this invention with the special tool in position for installing the hanger.

FIG. 3, shows an enlarged perspective view of the smaller portion of the first form of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawing, the two piece hanger of the first form of this invention is shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. The first piece of said hanger is designated in general by the numeral 1. Hanger 1 is formed in a general U- shaped configuration with one end 2 in the form of a book which is disposed at right angles to the plane of the U. The opposite end 3 of hanger 1 is in the form of a hook which extends in a plane parallel to the plane of the U. The entire hanger l is made preferably of spring steel or some substance having both great strength and elasticity. The second and separate part of hanger 1 is indicated in general by the numeral 4, see FIGS. 1 and 3, and comprises a piece of strong spring steel of the same composition as the rest of the hanger l, but has a slightly curbed center portion 5, which can also be notched, and is preferably formed in a slight rein one end of the special tool, which hole 11a will snugly receive the end of the hook 3, and then by applying a lifting motion, indicated by the direction of arrow in FIG. 2, the spring steel hook 3 is lifted sufficiently against its natural spring action so that the second and separate wire piece 4 can be slipped under said hook 3 with its ends 6 and 7 resting on the horizontally disposed lower bars 9 and 9a of bar joist 10 as shown in FIG. 1. The end 3 is then lowered so that it bears on the middle section of the piece 4, and the hanger 1 is held in place firmly by the spring clip reaction between hook 3 and the second and separate piece 4, thus holding the furring strip 8 in firm contact with the lower bars 9 and 9a of bar joist 10 by the spring action of hanger 1 after the tool 11 is withdrawn. Since the hanger 1 is made of spring steel there is limited amount of flexibility or movement possible if it is necessary to make adjustments in the position of the furring strip 8.

The second form of my inventionis shown generally as 14 in FIGS. 4, 5, and 6. The body of the hanger 14 has a hook 12 shaped in a plane at right angles to the plane of the U, the other end has a hook 13 which is also shaped in a plane at right angles to the plane of the U, but is faced in the opposite direction from the hook 12. See FIGS. 4, 5, and 6.

In FIG. 4, the hanger 14 is shown in assembled position holding a furring strip 15 in snug clamped contact with a horizontally disposed channel iron 16.

In FIG. 5, the hanger 14 is shown in assembled position holding a formed metal strip 17, in snug clamped contact with a horizontally disposed channel iron 18. In each case the disposition into operative clamped position of the oppositely facing hooked ends 12 and 13 of hanger 14, which comprises the second form of this invention, is effected by engagement of the tool 11 with the hooked end 13 of the hanger 14 and lifting it in the direction indicated by the arrow. Tool 11 could equally well be used on the hooked end 12 of the wire hanger 14 to thus lift either of the hooked ends 12 or 13 against its inherent spring tension over either channel iron 16 or 18 to effect the desired clamping of the furring strip 15 to channel iron 16, as in FIG. 4, or the clamping of formed metal strip 17 snugly in position under channel iron 18, as in FIG. 5.

Tool 1 1 contains a diametrically disposed open sided slot 11b which can be used to grasp either the hooked end 3 of hanger 1 or the hooked ends 12 or 13 of hanger 14 as shown in FIG. 6. Under some circumstances it may be more convenient to use slot 11b instead of hole 11a, since the use of slot 11b would enable the tool 11 to be more easily disengaged after the hanger is in place.

A diametricaly disposed hole 11c may also be contained in tool 11 as shown in FIG. 7. Hole 11c has the same inside diameter as diametricaly disposed hole 1 la and provides the same fit as hole 11a to snugly receive the end of either form of hanger wire 1 or 14 and may be used in place of hole 11a or slot 11b. Slot 11b preferably should have a slightly larger inside diameter that either hole 11a or 11c.

What is claimed is:

1. In a ceiling framework, a bar joist having spaced parallel bars as the lower chord thereof, furring strips and the like disposed beneath said joist and extending transversely thereof, attaching means securing said furring strips to said joist comprising a two piece preformed spring steel hanger in combination:

a. A transverse piece positioned to bridge the space between the said two bars, with the ends of. said transverse piece resting upon the said spaced parallel bars;

b. A second relatively larger U-shaped piece shaped to fit snugly around said furring strips and the like, having one end shaped in the form of a hook disposed at a right angle to the overall plane of said U-shaped piece, said hook resting on one of the bars of said bar joist; the other end of said U- shaped piece being shaped in the form of a hook extending in a plane parallel to the overall plane of said U-shaped piece and resting on said transverse piece.

2. An attaching means for securing furring strips false ceilings and the like, as described in claim 1 in which said transverse piece is curved in its center portion so that said center portion is dipped below the axis of said transverse piece.

3. An attaching means for securing furring strips, false ceilings and the like as described in claim 2 in which the ends of said transverse piece have a slight reverse curve at its ends relative to said curved center portion. 

1. In a ceiling framework, a bar joist having spaced parallel bars as the lower chord thereof, furring strips and the like disposed beneath said joist and extending transversely thereof, attaching means securing said furring strips to said joist comprising a two piece preformed spring steel hanger in combination: a. A transverse piece positioned to bridge the space between the said two bars, with the ends of said transverse piece resting upon the said spaced parallel bars; b. A second relatively larger U-shaped piece shaped to fit snugly around said furring strips and the like, having one end shaped in the form of a hook disposed at a right angle to the overall plane of said U-shaped piece, said hook resting on one of the bars of said bar joist; the other end of said U-shaped piece being shaped in the form of a hook extending in a plane parallel to the overall plane of said U-shaped piece and resting on said transverse piece.
 2. An attaching means for securing furring strips false ceilings and the like, as described in claim 1 in which said transverse piece is curVed in its center portion so that said center portion is dipped below the axis of said transverse piece.
 3. An attaching means for securing furring strips, false ceilings and the like as described in claim 2 in which the ends of said transverse piece have a slight reverse curve at its ends relative to said curved center portion. 